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The issue of Turkish officers undermines NATO

Turkish, German and Greek liaison officers, in the SNMG2 mission in the Aegean Sea (credit: NATO)
Turkish, German and Greek liaison officers, in the SNMG2 mission in the Aegean Sea (credit: NATO)

(B2) The repression that followed the failed coup in Turkey in July has certain consequences for the structures of the Atlantic Alliance. This fact has long been silenced. It was taboo. It is common knowledge today.

Disappearances...

The rumor had been going around for several days already and it had reached our ears. Some officers - sometimes high level - have "disappeared" from the command structures where they were inserted. Some were repatriated on order to Turkey by the Turkish power (diplomats as well as officers it seems). Others chose to take to their heels. When we met Jens Stoltenberg, the day after the American elections (1), we asked him the question, at the end of our meeting. But he preferred to sketch, considering that it was unfounded. The fact is now confirmed. Turkish officers stationed in NATO structures preferred to seek asylum rather than be arrested.

Refugee rather than arrested

Friday (November 18), during a press conference, the Secretary General of NATO acknowledged what - in the corridors - was already being said. " It is correct that Turkish officers employed in the command structure have sought asylum in the countries where they work ", did he declare. However, he did not want to say more about the number of officers involved or the countries where they were assigned.

Asylum applications in Germany... and in Belgium?

According to our information, it would not be one or two isolated people but several, without being able to estimate the exact number. Several countries would be affected. In Germany, the information is now public. The German press reported last Wednesday that soldiers from the Rammstein air base and their families had requested asylum. In Belgium – which houses the headquarters of the Alliance (in Brussels) like the Supreme Command Shape, in Mons, this could also be the case, according to our information…

Two-thirds of the Turkish workforce concerned

According to our colleague from Le Monde Nathalie Guibert who published a paper this morning and gives specific figures. " Some 70 Turkish officers and non-commissioned officers, out of the country's XNUMX, were victims of the purge. That is two-thirds of the workforce " here " in Brussels, in operational headquarters ". Information drawn from a good source since it comes from the chairman of the military committee of the Alliance, the Czech general Petr Pavel. In Norfolk, in the United States, where NATO's second supreme command is located, that of "transformation", headed by a Frenchman, the raid is also important: “36 of the 46 Turkish soldiers were forced to give up their jobs ". In both cases, the Turks held key positions. Which implies " projects will be put on hold at least the time to find replacements, among the Turks, or other nations of the Alliance. " The vacancy means that some of our projects are going to be delayed due to the lack of necessary staff acknowledges Petr Pavel.

(NGV)

(1) The NATO chief's double warning to Donald Trump and the Europeans (exclusive interview with Jens Stoltenberg)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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